An interview with John Campopiano, SLIS alum and records manager for FRONTLINE/WGBH-TV

John Campopiano '13LS never envisioned working with world-renowned journalists, yet as the records manager for FRONTLINE/WGBH-TV in Boston, he is the point person among journalists and editors, production companies in the field, the legal department, accounting, and the media library and archives. "You have to be perceptive to know people," he said. "Everybody needs different things; they come at it from different perspectives. You have to be able to navigate all of that."

Some archivists crave the quiet cloisters of book preservation or historical research, but not Campopiano. What themes resonate most in the field for him? "Outreach and collaboration," he states. "I do not see myself working in a traditional archive. I thought I was going to until I started working here [WGBH]. The idea of collaboration has lent itself to me in a positive way, and has given me the opportunity to have my voice heard. Advocacy--we hear about that in graduate school, but here I can advocate for archives and preservation standards, analyze what is working, and what we can do to improve. They [WGBH] are open-minded, and provide me with the opportunity to be creative and to contribute my own perspective. It is different from working with all like-minded people with the same background and same abilities."